Description
This soft, tender loaf has a thick cinnamon/cocoa stripe running through the middle!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the banana bread:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup crème fraiche or sour cream
- 2 cups mashed ripe banana (2-3 large bananas) *see note on how to quickly over ripen bananas
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the cinnamon stripe:
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 TB granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the vanilla coffee glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 TB cold coffee
- 3–4 TB heavy cream or milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
To make the banana bread:
- Add the butter to a stainless steel saucepan, or one that has a light interior. This will make it easier to see when the butter has browned so that you don’t burn it. Set the saucepan over medium high heat.
- Allow the butter to melt completely. After it has melted the milk solids will rise to the surface and form a “raft” of sorts. As the melted butter begins to bubble more vigorously, the milk solids will sink to the bottom and the butterfat will become more clear.
- Continue occasionally stirring the butter and keep a very close watch over the milk solids at the bottom of the pan. Once they begin to turn a light brown color, keep stirring them for just a few more seconds and remove the saucepan from the heat when the melted butter is a medium golden brown. The butter should smell nutty.
- Immediately pour the browned butter into a glass measuring cup or heatproof bowl and set aside to cool completely to room temperature. This should take about 4-5 hours at room temp, but you can speed things along by placing the butter in the freezer for about 45 minutes.
- While the butter cools, prep for the remaining steps. Line a 9 x 5 loaf pan with parchment paper or butter the insides to make sure the loaf releases cleanly and doesn’t stick.
- In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In another small bowl, stir together the cinnamon stripe ingredients and set aside.
- Once the browned butter has reached a soft room temperature, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and add the butter to a large mixing bowl. The bowl should be large enough to hold all of the batter. Set aside.
- Add the 3/4 cup brown sugar to the browned butter and use a hand mixer to cream on medium high speed for 3 minutes. The mixture should be lighter in color and slightly fluffy.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the first egg. Beat well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and repeat for the second egg.
- Scrape down the bowl and add the crème fraiche, banana and vanilla extract. Mix well. The batter will look a little broken, that’s okay.
- Add the flour mixture and beat on LOW speed until just a few flour streaks remain. Use a spatula to gently fold in the flour streaks just until blended.
- Add half of the batter to the prepared loaf pan and gently smooth the surface with a butter knife or small offset spatula. Sprinkle the cinnamon/cocoa stripe mixture evenly over the batter and cover with the remaining batter. Smooth out the top.
- Bake the loaf for 1 hour and 5 minutes. After removing it from the oven, let it cool in the pan for 30 minutes before inverting the loaf onto a cooling rack. Allow the banana bread to rest overnight and fully cool/set up.
To make the glaze and serve:
- Combine all of the coffee glaze ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled loaf and slice to serve.
- Keep any leftovers in a sealed container/bag at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can refrigerate the banana bread for up to 10 days.
Notes
To ripen bananas quickly:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Arrange the bananas on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove the bananas from the oven, the skins should be black on most of the sides.
Allow the bananas to cool on the baking sheet until just barely warm, about 2 hours. If any skin wasn’t blackened when they came out of the oven, it should be at this point. If not, it’s not a problem as long as most of the skin is black.
Peel the bananas and discard the peels. Mash the fruit in a small bowl and proceed with the recipe as written.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 352
- Sugar: 35.8 g
- Sodium: 221.7 mg
- Fat: 12.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 7.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 57.1 g
- Fiber: 1.9 g
- Protein: 4.1 g
- Cholesterol: 64.5 mg